Escaping the Dark
by xXBloodyIllusionXx
Summary: Alena de Lumuncos has many secrets, as does any girl in the mafia. When they land her in the center of the Varia's attention, what will happen? How will she cope with all the secrets, lies and constant realization that no matter how hard she tries she will never be one of them? SqualoOC


Escaping the Dark

**AN: Let it be known that this is technically a rewrite of A Scarlet Vendetta and the only thing I really kept of the original story was my opening, my character name and the "fight for your life" scenario. I hope it reaches your standards. And I'm sorry in advance for any OOCness or Mary-Sueness (if there is any).**

**Seeing as I have been gone for practically five months, this is how I repay people. **

**Disclaimer: I own KHR not! But my OC, Alena de Lumuncos is mine.**

**~CHAPTER 1 THE DEATH OF THE DESJARDINS~**

_Shatter and break, the bones in your wake. Watch as blood dries, dead are the lies. Kill all the weak, find answers you seek. Murder the strong, for all of their wrongs. Merry and ill, take in your fill. Watch as they fall, and answer your call. Dead are the rats . . . killed . . . by the . . . cat. _

Blood. Gorgeous, crimson blood. It was everywhere ― the walls, the floors, the windows, the ceilings and the furniture. It came down in contrasting streaks against the sky blue walls. Oh how it dominated the scene. Not only the blood, but the body parts as well. Several decapitated heads were lined up on top of the staircase railing on the second floor. Feet, roughly chopped off at the ankles, were lined up nicely on a mat by the front door as if waiting for someone to slip them on. Piles of entrails were everywhere ― the stairs, the ceiling fans, the kitchen counters . . . _everywhere_. Fingers and pieces of broken bones scattered the floor crunching under one's feet. There was just so much _blood_.

To most, the scene would have been an unwelcoming sight, but it seemed not all people were as disgusted by it as they should be. A boy, about the age of sixteen, perhaps a little older, entered the large estate home in France. He had blonde hair, just long enough to cover his eyes, and he wore a glittering tiara on his head. He held himself highly and was not at all fazed by the blood-spattered scene before him; in fact he practically giggled at the sight of it. Behind him, another person followed after. This man looked to be several years older. He had much longer silvery hair that any woman would envy and wore a seemingly permanent frown on his face. Both of them wore black coats with identical symbols on them that read _Varia_.

Both of the males surveyed the area before the blonde boy spoke. "Ushishishi~ Looks like someone's already done the job for us. And quite well I might add. The prince approves." There was a solid thud that seemed to come from the floor above them indicating the presence of another being in the house.

"What the hell?" the silver haired maniac exclaimed. "If someone's up there, you better get your trashy ass down here!" Silence. The younger boy giggled at the angry expression on the other's face.

"Let's go investigate~" So the two men crept up the blood soaked stairs as quietly as they could manage before coming across the source of the noise. And it surprised them in a way that seemed almost out of character.

A girl, around the age of twenty or so, maybe a few years younger, lay unconscious beside a well gutted body. There were two bloody daggers lying forgotten on the floor, just barely out of her still grasp. A peaceful smile was on her face despite the fact that her brown hair was matted down and darkened drastically by the blood that it had absorbed. All her clothes were dyed scarlet from the body fluids that had been splattered on her.

The blonde prince approached without a single fear, only a desire to break down the situation further.

"VOOOIII! What are you doing, brat?" the silver haired fanatic shouted. "She could be dangerous!"

"No one tells a _prince _what he should and shouldn't do."

"I am your commander for fuck sakes!"

The self-proclaimed prince turned to look back at the yelling man.

"Your voice is going to make the prince lose his precious hearing, peasant." The man deemed a peasant growled dangerously as the other continued his walk towards the girl's unconscious body. She shifted slightly causing him to pull out a fan of his knives in case she made any sudden movements. However, she remained ignorant in her own unconsciousness.

"Let's go," the commander ordered, not quite yelling, but still talking louder than necessary.

"Let's take her with us. Might be useful and the prince could use a new toy."

The commander sighed when he couldn't think up a reasonable excuse that his teammate would accept to leave her behind. So he approached her and heaved her up over his shoulder.

As they departed from the building the commander grunted as he grabbed something from his pocket and threw it over his shoulder, in the direction of the stately home. It only took a few seconds to come in contact with a window and explode.

"Mission accomplished. Ushishishishi~"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Alena awoke abruptly. Her eyes darted around the room and she eventually gave a brief sigh of relief She was in a strange place that she could not recall from any of her memories. She was hot and she wore several bandages that seemed to have been expertly put on. She examined her surroundings looking for escape routes, possible weapons and any signs that would show who lived there.

Window. Door. Fireplace. Ceiling and floor vents. Heavy book. Scissors. Chair. Extremely detailed furniture clearly belonging to someone who had money – possibly mafia related. No picture frames or personal belongings meaning guest room. Everything was overly clean and the only thing that seemed out of place was the folding table that held various medical supplies, none of which, besides the previously mentioned scissors, could be used as weapons. There were three doors in total and two floor-to-ceiling windows covered by long flowing curtains that blocked out the majority of the sunlight beyond.

Pushing away the sheets stained with her own sweat, Alena willed herself to the edge of the bed, ignoring the slight pains in her body. Her feet met with a thick rug and she realized that she had no idea where she got what she was wearing. It looked to be a white hospital gown. It would restrain her if she had to fight.

_Escape. Escape. Escape. Escape. Kill if you have to. But escape!_

Standing, Alena pushed a strand of clean hair from her face and walked over to one of the windows. She thrust aside the curtains and the light of what seemed to be late afternoon filtered into the room. Her eyes blurred with tears as they adjusted to the new found sun light. She wouldn't be able to escape from this area. She must've been at least six floors up. And there were no trees nearby either.

Next she checked the fire place. There was a metal grate halfway up the chimney that prevented anything larger than a common house spider from entering. That too would be no good if it came to escaping, especially seeing as the grate looked very, _very_ sturdy.

The vents? They must have been drilled on with super heavy-duty screws that she would never break through without proper tools.

She then went to check the doors. The first was an empty closet. It had an additional vent, but it was screwed shut in similar fashion as the other one in the room.

The second door led to a bathroom. It too had a window and vents, none of which would be of any help in an escape.

That left the third and final door. Obviously the exit. It was an unconventional form of escape seeing as one never knew what was on the other side or if it was locked and how well. It was worth a try, though. If she could at least figure out where she was it would be worth it because it would allow for a better formulated escape plan.

Alena approached the door gradually. She pressed her ear against its chilly surface and listened intently for any sounds outside. There was nothing so, with as much caution as she had originally approached the door with, she attempted to open it.

To her surprise the door wasn't locked and light from her room flooded the dark hallway. She stepped out swiftly before closing the door as quietly and quickly as she could. The hallway returned to its original darkness. She didn't want to make it that obvious she was trying to escape. They would come up and kill her . . . unless they knew. In that case she would be horribly tortured and _then_ killed. And that was all fine and dandy in the mafia world.

Trying to keep to the darker sections of the hallway, Alena made her way to the first intersection. She was able to deduce one thing after looking down all four ways: the place was huge and undeniably mafia owned.

"Ushishishi~ Where does the peasant think she is going?" Alena jumped and her heart beat sped up considerably. She turned to see boy a few years younger than herself, supporting himself with his elbow against the wall. Other than his dark clothes, blonde hair, silver tiara and eerie smile, she could make out very little about the boy.

_You know his name. You know all about him. They told you his name. They told you his secrets._

He had spoken in Italian, luckily one of the languages she knew. She responded fluently, despite her upbringing having been French.

"Prince Belphegor. Age sixteen. Nationality is unknown due to the threat of causing havoc amongst the United Nations. Storm guardian candidate for Vongola Tenth candidate Xanxus. Member of Vongola's independent yet elite assassination squad, the Varia. Weapon: knives with wires." The words came out suddenly and she couldn't have stopped them even if she had tried. Bel's smile dropped. When he managed to realize it had slipped, he forced it back on and pulled out several knives.

"How did you hear about the prince, peasant?" Alena remained silent before realizing what exactly she had just done and how stupid it was of her. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "Silent prey? I can make you scream the answers, then." He threw several knives and purposely made them miss their mark. Alena looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she noticed how close they had been.

"Ushishishi~ Are you gonna tell the prince where you learned that information now?" As Alena was about to respond the chandeliers in the hallway lit up simultaneously, brightening up the whole hallway. An eccentric looking half-bald man came bouncing down the hall. Belphegor's smile lessened, but only slightly.

"Bel-chan! Are you harassing our guest?" Guest? Alena raised an eyebrow.

_You should know all about him, too._

She recognized the man as Lussuria, Varia Sun guardian candidate, also for Vongola Tenth candidate Xanxus. He was twenty-five, making him the oldest leading officer of the Varia. Not that she planned to say that out loud, of course.

"She was leaving, or so she so stupidly denies."

"Dear me, you can't leave! In your condition, too. Go back to bed." In moments Alena decided to go with the flow. She was caught, but by going along with this man she might be able to get the better end of the deal and get another chance to escape, or better yet, just be let out. She was a guest, after all. Guests were not held against their will.

"Where is it?" she asked innocently, though she truly did not remember the door she had exited from.

". . . four, five, six doors down on your right, sweetie." Then he turned to Belphegor and began arguing with him, almost completely forgetting Alena's presence.

Alena backed away from the conversation that had just started between the two Varia officers, not wanting to bring any more attention to herself, especially seeing as they were apparently arguing about her anyways.

Back in the room where she had first woken up, a man was there waiting.

_Yet another man you should know, child. They told you all about him._

He was definitely Superbi Squalo, Strategy Captain of the Varia, Rain Guardian candidate, Sword Emperor, twenty years old, missing hand and all.

"Superbi Squalo, Sword Emperor. How wonderful it is to meet you." Alena mentally hit her head repeatedly on a wall.

"VOOOII! How the hell do you know who I am?"

Alena smiled, making up a quick lie. "This_ is_ the mafia and you _are_ the Varia."

"Ushishi~ Then how'd you know all of the other things about me, peasant? My knives, my nationality complications?" And in comes the prince and all his smiley glory.

"Nationality complications?" Squalo questioned, taking a figurative step back.

"It will cause some issues amongst the Unite—" She stopped herself when she realized what she had started saying, but the blonde haired prince had already continued for her.

"—ted Nations if I tell anyone. See? Ushishishi~ The peasant knows more than she lets on. Are you, perhaps, a stalker?" The knives came out again. Alena took a step away from him, even as Lussuria entered behind him and lightly chastised him for, again, threatening their guest.

"No wonder no one ever wants to come to my dinner parties if you keep threatening them like this." Lussuria pouted. "By the way, my name is Lussuria, but you, dear, have the honours of calling me Mama Luss or Luss-nee or Luss-nee-chan." He gave what Alena assumed was meant to be a slightly (scratch that, a _highly_) exaggerated wink, but she couldn't be sure due to the darkly tinted glasses he wore.

"Shut up, brat. Now, you," he pointed to Alena, "Who are you?" Alena struggled to speak for a moment. Should she tell them? They were the Varia, cruel and unforgiving. What could she hide from them?

"Me . . . my name is Alena de Lumuncos, former member of the Desjardins family, located in France. I was one of their . . . subordinates."

"Oh, honey, was that really you who killed them all? I had hoped you would be an innocent girl, dragged into the nasty mafia world and framed for the murder of her own family!"

"Unfortunately _no_ and seeing as the only reason I am here is because the Varia were sent _there_, that means that the family I killed had already lost the rights to their lives. Meaning that, in the end, I did all of you a favour. You don't have to kill some not-worth-time Mafioso _and_ you still get paid. Now, seeing as I was not included in any of that, I am going to leave."

"Ushishishi~ And go where?"

"That would be none of your concern. I thank you for your hospitality and as there is no other reason to stay, I am, I repeat, I _am_ leaving."

"But Lena-chan!" Alena grimaced at the nickname. "You never answered why you killed them!"

"Why . . . why I killed them?" Alena hesitated, cocking her head slightly and ignoring the sharp pain that ran through her neck.

"You betrayed you own family, trash. There must've been a reason," Squalo interjected, oddly calm.

_Because they were horrible. Because they killed needlessly. Because they were drunken bastards. Because they misunderstood what it meant to be honorable. Because they _used _me_.

"Because they deserved to die," she said simply, pushing aside the other thoughts circling through her mind.

"Oh, Lena-chan!" Lussuria whined. "You can't just say that. It's cheating! There must be an actual _reason_."

"That is my reason and I am sticking to it. As they say, stick to your reason."

"Either way, you can't leave." Lussuria and Squalo's eyes turned to Bel questionably.

"Why not? What have I done that requires me to stay here?"

"I wanna see you fight." Everyone gave strange looks to the knife wielding sadist.

"What?" Alena questioned, not entirely sure she heard correctly.

"Obviously the intelligence of the prince is above your level." He began to leave the room only to be stopped by Alena.

"No, you want to see me fight. Why?" He turned back around on his heel and clasped his hands together behind his head.

"Shishi~ You took out a whole rival mafia family seemingly by yourself. The prince wants proof."

"Fine." She saw this as a personal attack. Why call her out when she was telling the truth? Seeing as he was a genius, he would know that it had been Alena responsible for the whole massacre anyways and realistically, to do what she did required some kind of assistance so he wanted to prove that it had been her even if the evidence was in her favour. He was a smart one. "What do you want me to do, _prince_?"

"Fight the sharky commander, _peasant_." Squalo looked outraged.

"VOOOOII! I am not fighting this useless scum!" Yet another personal attack.

"You know what? I'll fight him and I'll make sure he regrets that last statement," she finally agreed, offended after being called useless and scum.

"I don't want you to die though, Lena-chan! I had so many plans too! You could have joined the Varia, I could've designed your uniform, and we could've gone _shopping, _watched _soap operas _and gossiped about cute _boys_!" Alena questioned whether she wanted to fight now if she might be forced to go through all that at the end.

"You're on trash!" Squalo raised his arm and brandished his sword in an act to be threatening.

_Why not . . . why not just let him kill me? Why not just end it all now, erase all my mistakes? It would be so much easier that way. Just stop existing . . ._

"What are your conditions?" Alena asked, pulling herself once more from her own doomed thoughts.

"I kill you, you're dead."

"Anything else that isn't so painfully obvious? If I survive or even go so far as to beat you?"

Squalo snorted. "You won't live to see another day, brat." Alena glared.

"I need my daggers at least." Squalo smirked and handed her the daggers that they had brought with them from France. Strange that he would keep them in his coat.

Alena shrugged, accepting them anyways. She knew she was at a disadvantage. Squalo was the Sword Emperor. He fought with a mid range weapon, while she was close range. What could she use to her advantage and keep her from looking too suspicious? Not much, just lots and lots of observing.

_But there's more to it than that._

As Bel and Squalo left, Alena couldn't shake off the look Squalo had been giving her. It had been borderline crazed, like she was piece of meat ready to be ground up and made into sausage. Just thinking about it made her shudder.

"Well, let's get you some clothes. I want to have a chance to dress you while you're still alive!" Alena grimaced once more. She wished that the fight would just be done and over with so Lussuria would refrain from talking about doing things "while she was alive". It wasn't as if she was a ticking time bomb . . . was she?

**Author's Note: If the words in italics are slightly confusing, don't worry about it. And, um . . . Mary-Sue? God, this story is so freaking frustrating . . .**_** I**_** like it, but I'm worried if **_**you'll**_** like it :/**


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